The Ankeny girls’ swimming team is hoping that last year was just an aberration.
After earning 10 consecutive top-10 finishes at the state meet, the Hawkettes slipped to a 29th-place finish in 2024. They scored just nine points after being disqualified in the 200 medley relay.
Ankeny was seeded seventh in that event and posted a time of 1:51.01, which would have earned the Hawkettes a seventh-place finish and 24 team points. But they were disqualified for leaving the blocks too early.
Senior Madi Trosper and sophomore Charlie Villhauer were both part of that relay. They are among the team’s five returning state qualifiers.
“We lost another awesome group of seniors and it will be tough to replace their leadership and performances in the pool, but I am looking forward to working with all of these girls and helping them learn and grow in and out of the pool,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “We have 40 girls out for the team this year! I am very excited about this as it will be the biggest team I have had and the deepest and most competitive top to bottom. Twenty-seven of our 40 are freshmen and sophomores so we might have some growing pains and bumps along the way, but we also return quite a bit of experience as well.”
Villhauer swam on all three of Ankeny’s relays at the state meet. She anchored the Hawkettes to a 14th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:41.25, then later joined Trosper on the 400 freestyle relay, which dropped nearly 4 seconds off their seed time while placing 19th in 3:45.96.
Villhauer also qualified for the state meet in the 100 butterfly, posting a time of 59.95 seconds at the regional meet. She advanced to the “B” final at state and placed 16th in a time of 1:00.81.
Trosper was a state qualifier in the 50 freestyle. She placed 31st in that event in 25.90 seconds.
Junior Kylee Stone and sophomores Maggie Blackmore and Allie Kearney are the team’s other returning qualifiers.
Blackmore placed 21st in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:28.68. She dropped more than 2 seconds off her seed time while moving up three spots.
Kearney took 27th in the 200 individual medley in 2:20.51. She dropped more than a second off her time while moving up five spots.
Stone also placed 27th in the 100 backstroke. She moved up two spots by posting a time of 1:03.46.
“Our returning state qualifiers will have a huge role on our team, but I am also excited about the competition we will have in all events trying to figure out what our best possible lineup will be for the end of the season,” Rhoads said.
In the diving event, Ankeny will have to replace Miranda Gagne, who qualified for the state meet and placed 30th with 142.50 points. Her sister Gabby, who placed 15th at the CIML Conference meet, elected to play tennis this fall instead.
“Diving will be a challenge as we do not have a diving coach, but we will manage it the best we can,” Rhoads said. “I expect great seasons from Kambell Subbert and Isla Corron as well as senior Olivia Luna. They have all improved tremendously with their hard work in the offseason.”
Ankeny finished 3-3 in the conference a year ago. After losing a dual meet to Johnston during the regular season, the Hawkettes finshed ahead of the Dragons while placing fourth at the conference meet.
However, Ankeny also finished behind third-place Waukee–a team it had defeated in the season opener. Those two teams will again collide in the opener on Tuesday at the Waukee Natatorium.
“The goals remain the same–work hard, have fun and do your best,” Rhoads said. “We would like to get back to a top 10 finish at state and win a regional team title, and finish in the top half of the CIML. I will never put a limit on what my teams can do, but the future is very bright with so many young athletes. They just need to learn the ropes and gain more and more experience. I know in a year or two this group will be tough to beat, but we will push them right away to try to come together as a team to have the best season we possibly can.”
Rhoads said a new swim club is starting in Ankeny that could pay off in the future as well.
“It will only benefit us and the swimmers in this community,” he said. “The future is very bright, and I am honored to lead this group of young ladies. It will be a fun season.”